Review: The Virgin Way: Everything I Know About Leadership

The Virgin Way reads like a rule book or guide book for a conglomeration of companies that would claim to eschew from the stuffy rule books of more uptight corporations. That is to say, if you work at a Virgin company I would bet that you were nudged to read this book and maybe put the chapter titles to heart. It feels like it would be a good onboarding tool.

The contents of the book can be split into two parts: (1) rote business advice and (2)interesting glimpses into Branson's mind. The former is fairly standard leadership advice. "Listen" and "delegate" and "be authentic" are the basic points that a first level manager can probably pull out of their asses for you. There are also numerous examples of well-known companies like Google or Apple that he uses to illustrate points. I could've used them as examples!

The real interesting tidbits come when Richard turns to himself, or when he describes the struggles that he has had to deal with. These include how his battle with dyslexia forced him to pursue tactics that made him a better leader or how he draws (or erases) the line between the Virgin brand and his personal brand.

This is an ok book to read if you want to know more about how Branson himself thinks, (or if you've recently been hired to a Virgin company!) but if you're looking to supplement your MBA maybe go elsewhere.

Review: So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love

"So Good They Can't Ignore You" is based off a Steve Martin line. The book has four big points, illustrated by about four chapters each. Each chapter is basically a long blog post (warning: this book is a giant blog post, which makes it super readable in a single setting).

1. People who are happy and successful do not actually follow their passion.
2. People who are happy focus on their work first, and success follows.
3. Focusing on work consists of deliberate practice and building skills.
4. Missions arise naturally from finding out what work you're good at, and doing that work.

One of the big strategies that Cal kind of implies is that taking options that maximize your potential options available is a good place to find happiness. If you learn things that are useful in many areas, or skills that are in high demand in many areas, you will be able to choose. Furthermore, building skills means you have more ability to tell other people what you want and because they need you, you can control outcomes.

I skipped a lot of the story-telling in the books, because I have personal examples from my circles and they are available upon request.